BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003) - Ship Of The Week #7 1/1/2015

[Admiral2]

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA​

THE CYLONS WERE CREATED BY MAN.

THEY REBELLED.​

THEY EVOLVED.​

THERE WERE TWELVE MODELS AND MANY COPIES.​

THEY SOUGHT TO REPLACE MAN IN THE EYES OF GOD…​

...AND THEY HAD A PLAN.​

Battlestars were also created by Man, to serve as capital ships in the Fleet of the Twelve Colonies. The most prominent of these ships was the Battlestar Galactica.


Galactica was one of the first twelve ships of her type to be constructed for the Fleet. Each of these ships represented a particular colony, with Galactica representing Caprica. These ships were designed with non-integrated computer systems to avoid the Cylons’ demonstrated ability to override or subvert networked command and control systems. Instead of sophisticated technology, Galactica relied upon her sheer bulk and defensive and offensive capabilities to ward off threats.


Galactica entered service prior to the tenth year of the Cylon War, and her duties were primarily planetary defense and border patrol. Two years into her service she participated in Operation Raptor Talon along with the Battlestar Columbia and one other battlestar. The Colonial forces inflicted major damage on the Cylon forces but the Columbia was lost. The battle ended in a draw when it was announced that the Cylons had signed an armistice agreement.


The Galactica went through several refits during her service but never received the network upgrades that the other ships of the Fleet received. Her final post-war refit involved preparing her for final decommissioning and conversion to a war museum. This refit included the removal of much of her armor and armaments and the conversion of her starboard flight pod into a display space and gift shop. The crew were in the midst of Galactica’s decommissioning ceremony when the Cylons broke the peace with one last, devastating attack on the Colonies and their Fleet. Both were destroyed, but Galactica was spared thanks to her lack of networked systems.


Soon after the last Cylon attack, Commander William Adama quickly got the Galactica ready for battle and prepared to engage the Cylons, but Laura Roslin, the last survivng member of President Adar’s administration, was sworn in as the new President and began gathering Colonial survivors in ships and making plans to escape from Colonial space. After an initial period of tension, President Roslin convinced Commander Adama of the rightness of her plans, and Galactica became the defender of this rag-tag, fugitive fleet as the last survivors of the Human Race set out in search of a new home.


After four years of wandering and being subject to overt and covert Cylon attack, internal conflict, supply shortages and steady loss of life, the Galactica and the fleet discovered a living world to settle on, which Adama named “Earth.”


The Battlestar Galactica was capable of carrying nearly eighty Viper defense fighters and Raptor multipurpose craft and was armed with large and medium caliber kinetic energy weapons and nuclear bombardment missiles. Her normal crew complement was nearly three thousand personnel, but her actual crew hovered around two thousand for the duration of her final voyage.

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BATTLESTAR GALACTICA​

Battlestar Galactica is the name of the award-winning series developed by Ronald D. Moore for the SciFi/SyFy Network. The show is based on the original 1978 ABC television series created by Glen A. Larson. The basic premise of both series is the same: The Cylons use an armistice as a ploy to launch a final attack on the Human Race, and the last battlestar leads a fleet of survivors in search of Earth. The most significant difference between the series is that in this version some Cylons take on human form and the emotions that come with it.

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“They need to start having babies…”​

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[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oShM7Bcml0w[/yt]​

 

[shivkala]

Ah, I love the Bucket! She really was as much a character as any of the others on the show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always wondered what was up with the missing armor. (I have never seen Blood & Chrome - was she seen with full armor in that series?)

 

[Admiral2]

^^^Yes. The image at the top was taken from B&C. It shows Galactica fully armored and with all her guns.

 

[MacLeod]

Didn't the Cylon plan basically amount to "kill all humans." Shame it's execution was somewhat lacking if only that had waited say 24hours.

 

[Admiral2]

Didn't the Cylon plan basically amount to "kill all humans." Shame it's execution was somewhat lacking if only that had waited say 24hours.

Then there wouldn't have been a series.

But yeah, the plan was to kill all the humans and take over the 12 worlds.

 

[The Old Mixer]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsvpvqvApKo[/yt]

 

[intrinsical]

I loved the Adama Maneuver.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evodPpqb9H4[/yt]

Its the most epic strategic space battle ever seen on TV.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It says the video's blocked in this country, so here's an alternate of the awesome moment for us yanks:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAnVlDeFYNs[/yt]

 

[EmoBorg]

A hardy warship. The Battlestars remind me of WW2 Battleships. The Cylon Basestars of the reimagined series reminded me of Aircraft Carriers for some reason.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Is this the only battlestar called Galactica in the reimagined series? For some reason I thought nuBSG's backstory contained a previous Galactica which was more along the lines of the TOS version. Or am I way off base, as usual?

 

[Mudd]

I believe there was a TOS-style battlestar in the hangar deck museum of the Galactica, along with a TOS basestar.

 

[Admiral2]

A hardy warship. The Battlestars remind me of WW2 Battleships. The Cylon Basestars of the reimagined series reminded me of Aircraft Carriers for some reason.

Battlestars are carriers. Most of their guns are purely for defense, while their main offensive weapons are their Vipers and Raptors. That makes them carriers.

I believe there was a TOS-style battlestar in the hangar deck museum of the Galactica, along with a TOS basestar.

Not surprising. They had TOS Centurions all over the place. They had to show a rationale for it...

 

[Marc]

Galactica was one of the first twelve ships of her type to be constructed for the Fleet. Each of these ships represented a particular colony, with Galactica representing Caprica. These ships were designed with non-integrated computer systems to avoid the Cylons’ demonstrated ability to override or subvert networked command and control systems. Instead of sophisticated technology, Galactica relied upon her sheer bulk and defensive and offensive capabilities to ward off threats.

and yet the later Battlestars such as the Pegasus did rely on computer networks and integrations.

And looking at CIC in Blood & Chrome I still wonder whether the downgrading of the technolodgy came later - after the construction of the Galatica.

 

[dub]

Loved, loved, loved this series. I was secretly hoping Admiral Cain was the final cylon. I loved to hate her in that role.

 

[Marc]

Loved, loved, loved this series. I was secretly hoping Admiral Cain was the final cylon. I loved to hate her in that role.

So oneof the final five gets killed by a Six?

I'm sure Cavill wouldn't have minded

 

[Admiral2]

Galactica was one of the first twelve ships of her type to be constructed for the Fleet. Each of these ships represented a particular colony, with Galactica representing Caprica. These ships were designed with non-integrated computer systems to avoid the Cylons’ demonstrated ability to override or subvert networked command and control systems. Instead of sophisticated technology, Galactica relied upon her sheer bulk and defensive and offensive capabilities to ward off threats.

and yet the later Battlestars such as the Pegasus did rely on computer networks and integrations.

And looking at CIC in Blood & Chrome I still wonder whether the downgrading of the technolodgy came later - after the construction of the Galatica.

Stop wondering. I got the information from Battlestar Wiki and there's plenty of evidence in canon to support it.

First, the fact that Pegasus had a networked system is irrelevant to the question of whether Galactic had one. Pegasus was constructed during the postwar period, a time when there was no immediate threat of Cylon network infiltration and the Colonials had time to develop a more hack-proof system, which is what they did. How do we know? Because if they hadn't, the Cylons wouldn't have needed Gaius Baltar's help to repeat their previous success.

Second, look at what happens to Colonial equipment when a Cylon hack is successful. It shuts down, completely, as we saw in the mini and The Plan. Then the Cylons swoop in and disintegrate it. Why is that important?

Look at Operation Raptor Talon (depicted in Razor). 3 battlestars, one of them Galactica. We know the Cylons wouldn't hesitate to hack any vulnerable enemy system, so if Galactica had a networked system in that battle she would have been shut down and destroyed, forty years before the events of the mini (which also would have happened forty years sooner, and we wouldn't have a series.)

And the Model 5 tour guide in the mini pretty much came out and said Galactica wasn't built with networked systems...

I don't see what there is to wonder about.

 

[nightwind1]

Meh. I much preferred the original (both ship and series).

 

[Skellington]

"Awesome". Looks like a chunk of military hardware that means business and occasionally needs maintenance.

I think I prefer the Beast to the Bucket, though.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Meh. I much preferred the original (both ship and series).

Agreed.